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Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Childhood Monster Blogest


It's time for the release of the wonderful paranormal romance novella FEARLESS by Christine Rains.  As another great piece of writing is introduced to the world, we also find ourselves presented with a fun blogging opportunity.

The task is simple.  Blog about your childhood monster.

I didn't believe in the monster in the closet or the monster under the bed as a kid.  My childhood terror was much more insidious than that.  It came only in my dreams, and it assumed the most innocent of forms.

A puzzle.

Doesn't sound terrifying yet, does it?  Yet it was there inside the worst recurring nightmare I had as a child.  I had plenty of dreams about dinosaurs and aliens, but I usually enjoyed those more than anything.  They gave me a fun scare.  Or maybe that fact just illustrates how strange I was even then.

The narrative of the dream is simple enough.  

I'm sitting outside in the backyard in the middle of the night.  It's dark. Everyone else is asleep.  I'm putting together a puzzle.  I don't know what the picture is, because all the pieces are upside down.  Not that it matters. Something sinister is driving me to put together the pieces of the unknown puzzle.  They go together easily, because this strange force is driving me.
A feeling of panic grips me as the pieces fit together, and the puzzle nears completion.  I know that something awful is going to happen once it's completed, but I can't stop the process. I have no control.

My hand shakes as I fight to avoid putting the last piece in.  Unfortunately I'm not strong enough. The last piece slides into place, and in that instant, my house explodes with my family and pets still inside.  And I know my hands caused this thing to happen, and it was totally out of my control.

That dream recurred from the ages of 8-11.  I hated it every time.  That puzzle was my arch nemesis in the dream world, and I couldn't defeat it.  The story ended the same way every time.  Luckily, the dream eventually went away.


23 comments:

  1. Wow, that is really scary! I bet you were relieved when those dreams stopped coming!

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  2. My guess is that when you finally figured out what was bothering you, the dreams went away. Very creepy indeed!

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  3. Wow, what a creepy and scary dream!

    So did you grow to hate doing jigsaw puzzles because they reminded you of the dream?

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  4. That wins for scariest dream! How awful.

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  5. This is awful...reminds me of my son's spot dreams! Did you ever figure out what it meant? Do you hate doing puzzles? Glad it ended...very scary!

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  6. I actually enjoy puzzles now . . .

    Maybe it's the fact that I'm taking control of a dream that used to terrify me by putting together a puzzle of my own volition. I can see the picture developing (I don't know why I'd ever voluntarily put together a puzzle upside-down-that might be weird)and I feel like I'm in control.

    I'm not exactly sure what the dream meant. Maybe I fear a loss of control? I never looked into it because I tried to forget it. Now that I'm thinking about it again, I may look into possible meanings.

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  7. I love puzzles. This is a really different kind of dream.

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  8. What a weird and frightening dream! Puzzles usually have something to do with a mental challenge in your life. I've always had dreams of monsters and such even as a child, and they didn't scare me. I was always the slayer! A dream like that would have bothered me much more. Thanks for participating! :)

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  9. YOWZA, what a horrible nightmare!

    A dream-interpreter might ask what was going on in your family life during those years, that you felt yourself responsible for their well-being (or lack thereof)...Just call me Joseph. ;-)
    Some Dark Romantic

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  10. That sounds like a creepy dream! There's probably some kind of symbolism in it.

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  11. That is one creepy dream! I can totally understand why you hated it, and I'm so glad you outgrew it. Something about the puzzle pieces fitting in so easily is so incredibly sinister. If I have jigsaw nightmares tonight I'm blaming you :)

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  12. I do enjoy those scary fun dreams. Not much scares me. Although I hate those flashback dreams of awkward and uncomfortable moments from childhood and teen years.

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  13. I've seen Fearless everywhere today. Now I see that it's a blog hop. Christine has good coverage for her book.

    There is an award waiting for you on my blog. Congratulations!

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  14. Oh wow, what a scary dream. I would have been terrified by it too. Thanks for sharing. :)

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  15. Puzzles you can't figure out plague me during the day, so I can't imagine a creepy one haunting me, during the night. Ugh. That is scary!

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  16. How terrible to have those dark dreams at such a young age! Have you ever considered making that into a book? That would be incredible.

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  17. Oh, wow! That almost makes a Stephen King novel or something, doesn't it? I can definitely see why you found it so scary! Love that you just enjoyed the aliens and dinosaurs.

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  18. What a horrifying nightmare for a young kid to have. I can only imagine how frightening it must have been for you.

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  19. That is awful! Monsters can be defeated, puzzles have to be solved. I get why that is scary.

    Great post!
    Tim Brannan
    The Other Side

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  20. OMGosh that sounds terrifying. I wonder what sparked (pun not intended) that dream in the first place. Glad it's gone away.

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  21. Visiting from the blog hop and wow- that's one intense dream for a kid. So happy to hear it stopped. Suddenly my alligators under the bed don't seem so bad. Enjoyed your post.
    A2Z Mommy and What’s In Between

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  22. What a terrifying dream! Also, what a sign of a great imagination!

    Allison (Geek Banter)

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  23. That's a terrible dream! I think that would disturb adults, just as much as kids. I also think dream analysts would have a field day with that one.

    My monster: http://thewarriormuse.blogspot.com/2012/08/childhood-monster-blog-fest.html

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